"The Necessity of Studying the Earliest Beliefs of the Ancients in Order to Understand Their Institutions"
It is proposed here to show upon what principles and by what rules Greek and Roman society was governed. We unite in the same study both the Greeks and the Romans, because these two peoples, who were two branches of a single race, and who spoke two idioms of a single language, also had the same institutions and the same principles of government, and passed through a series of similar revolutions. We shall attempt to set in a clear light the radical and essential differences which at all times distinguished these ancient peoples from modern societies. In our system of education, we live from infancy in the midst of the Greeks and Romans, and become accustomed continually to compare them with ourselves, to judge of their history by our own, and to explain our revolutions by theirs. What we have received from them leads us to believe that we resemble them. We have some difficulty in considering them as foreign nations; it is almost always ourselves that we see in them. Hence spring many errors. We rarely fail to deceive ourselves regarding these ancient nations when we see them through the opinions and facts of our own time. Now, errors of this kind are not without danger. The ideas which the moderns have had of Greece and Rome have often been in their way. Having imperfectly observed the institutions of the ancient city, men have dreamed of reviving them among us. They have deceived themselves about the liberty of the ancients, and on this very account liberty among the moderns has been put in peril. The last eighty years have clearly shown that one of the great difficulties which impede the march of modern society is the habit which it has of always keeping Greek and Roman antiquity before its eyes. To understand the truth about the Greeks and Romans, it is wise to study them without thinking of ourselves, as if they were entirely foreign to us; with the same disinterestedness, and with the mind as free, as if we were studying ancient India or Arabia. Thus observed, Greece and Rome appear to us in a character absolutely inimitable; nothing in modern times resembles them; nothing in the future can resemble them. We shall attempt to show by what rules these societies were regulated, and it will be freely admitted that the same rules can never govern humanity again. Whence comes this? Why are the conditions of human government no longer the same as in earlier times? The great changes which appear from time to time in the constitution of society can be the effect neither of chance nor of force alone. The cause which produces them must be powerful, and must be found in man himself. If the laws of human association are no longer the same as in antiquity, it is because there has been a change in man. There is, in fact, a part of our being which is modified from age to age; this is our intelligence. It is always in movement; almost always progressing; and on this account, our institutions and our laws are subject to change. Man has not, in our day, the way of thinking that he had twenty-five centuries ago; and this is why he is no longer governed as he was governed then. The history of Greece and Rome is a witness and an example of the intimate relation which always exists between men's ideas and their social state. Examine the institutions of the ancients without thinking of their religious notions, and you find them obscure, whimsical, and inexplicable. Why were there patricians and plebeians, patrons and clients, eupatrids and theses; and whence came the native of those Lacedaemonian institutions which appear to us so contrary to nature? How are we to explain those unjust caprices of ancient private law; at Corinth and at Thebes, the sale of land prohibited; at Athens and at Rome, an inequality in the succession between brother and sister?
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Customer Rating: Summary: Couldn't put it down ! Comment: I thoroughly enjoyed reading "The Ancient City". Despite being fairly well read on the subject the book still ended up teaching me a few things about the family hearth rites / religion of the Romans & Greeks, ancestor worship, the religious origin of private property, and the evolution of Greek & Roman religion over time. The author also made some good points about the common misunderstandings regarding classical thought and culture - specifically the tendency of some scholars to turn the ancient Greeks or Romans into modern rationalists and to ignore the more "irrational" (or at least what a modern 'rationalist' would consider as such) elements of Traditional thought.
Why didn't I give it 5 stars if I liked reading it so much? Was it for the outdated scholarship that showed up at times? No, that's to be expected in a book this old. My main problem is the authors naive belief in progress and the supposed superiority of modern thought over that of the "primitive" Greeks and Romans. BUT.. if you can look past that then you will find a lot worth reading in this book. Customer Rating: Summary: No New Hampshire Primaries in the Ancient City Comment: Brilliant and unchallenged interpretation of community and City State life in Indoeuropean ancient societies. Fustel de Coulanges, a 19th Century French specialist in medieval history was so flustered by phrygian caps and the demagogic appropiation of "Greek Democracy" as a "model" or "precursor" of modern western democracies, that he decided to shut himself up at home for ten years, accompanied only by Sanscrit, Greek and Latin primary sources to canvas the truest possible reconstruction of ancient political life. Uninfluenced by university politics, he distilled this wondrous book, "La Cité Antique", where we find how these societies voted, made law, married, gave cult to their beliefs, etc. Obviously and by far the ancients didn't do these things as we do them now. "The Ancient City" should be essential reading for Law students and Roman Law courses in particular, even if your current professor omits the book in your reading list. Don't read it if you want to believe that the greeks and romans held primaries in New Hampshire. Customer Rating: Summary: Few have been exposed to this great work Comment: This work is a discussion and a conveyance of ideas about ancient cities in Greece, and of Rome, with a focus on government, but mostly of laws and of 'private gods'. Rituals of the inhabitants of the ancient cities are especially detailed. There is also a bit on ancient cities of India which I found a little out of place but it wasn't overly distracting.
It's a controvesial work, a theory really, based upon whatever evidence that 19th Century French historian Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges could garner in his day. His theories of 'The Ancient City' are in clear conflict with those of a later French sociologist, Émile Durkheim, (1858-1917).
I found de Coulanges' theories quite sensible and plausible, probably not so much influenced by his own personal religion as were the thoughts of Durkheim, (who was Jewish).
This book is by no means a page-turner -- but if one is interested in sociology and anthropology, it's a must read. I found it quite enlightening and would recommend it to anyone with scholarly notions. Customer Rating: Summary: The Ancient City: A Study of Pagan Religion and the Rise of Christianity. Comment: _The Ancient City: A Study of the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome_ is a translation of _La Cite Antique_ of Fustel de Coulanges, first published in 1864, and made available as a translation by The Johns Hopkins University Press. Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges was a French classicist who devoted his attention to the ancient pagan civic religions of the Greeks and Romans, contrasting this with that of the Indians (Aryans). His ideas concerning this ancient pagan religion were part of a milieu of social evolutionary ideas that included H. S. Maine and J. J. Bachofen. He also wrote on the origins of the Gauls and French society and his ideas concerning their Roman origins were put to use by various extreme rightist organizations such as the Action Francaise of Charles Maurras. The writings of Fustel de Coulanges have proven particularly profitable for many later French sociologists and anthropologists, though they were to come to reject certain of his ideas as not being confirmed by historical evidence. Christianity played a special role in the theories of Fustel de Coulanges as the subsequent religion which overtook the pagan Greek and Roman civic religion and supplanted it with a universalist system. In addition, Fustel de Coulanges wrote against the various socialist theorists of the time, emphasizing the role of private property among the earliest Greeks and Romans. This book includes a Foreword by Arnaldo Momigliano and S. C. Humphreys which points to many of the central issues involved in the reading of Fustel de Coulanges and the text of _The Ancient City_ proper.
To begin, the author notes the essential necessity of studying the earliest beliefs of the ancients in an effort to understand their institutions. The author next turns his attentions to the earliest beliefs about the soul and death. In particular, the abode of the dead is discussed, as well as the need of the dead for food (noting that on certain days the ancients were to bring food to the tombs of the departed). The author also notes the practice of the worship of the dead. The deified souls of the departed were known as demons or heroes to the Greeks and as Lares, Manes, or Genii to the Latins. The author also discusses the role of the sacred hearth-fire and the worship of fire. This hearth-fire was always kept burning. Next, the author turns his attention to the ancient domestic religion, emphasizing the patriarchal society that existed and the role of the family in that religion. Each family was ruled over by the father, who may bequeath his rule to his eldest son, and each family preserved its own gods (the ancestors) and the sacred fire. The author discusses such important aspects of the ancient family as marriage (in which a meal was shared between the bride and her husband initiating the bride into the worship of the husband's family), kinship, the right of succession, property (an important institution for the ancient family, though one that was passed down from father to son exclusively), authority in the family, and morals in the family. In particular, the author also discusses the gens at Rome and Greece (noting the aristocratic nature of the Roman clan and showing the contrast between plebeians and patricians). Following this discussion, the author turns his attention to the ancient city proper. Here, the author notes how while the ancient domestic religion prohibited families from mingling, it was still possible for the ancient families to unite in a phratria (to the Greeks) or curia (to the Latins). The author also shows how new religious beliefs formed, based on the worship of natural phenomena, invoking such ancient names for the sun as Hercules (the glorious), Phoebus (the shining), Apollo (he who drives away night or evil), Hyperion (the elevated Being), and Alexicacos (the beneficent). The author shows that while the ancient family domestic religion involved the worship of ancestors, these gods came to be present for all. The author discusses the city and its various customs, including the religion of the city and its gods. Here, he notes such things as public repasts, festivals and the calendar, the census, and religion in the assembly, in the Senate, in the Tribunal, in the Army, and in the Triumph. The author also discusses various rituals, the king, the magistracy, the law, and the citizen and stranger. In addition, the author also discusses ancient patriotism and the means to exile. Finally, the author discusses war, peace, and the alliance of the gods. This brings the author to a discussion of the omnipotence of the state and the lack of individual liberty among the ancients. The next section of this book concerns the various revolutions that occurred as plebeians demanded more rights from the ancient order, leading eventually to the creation of democracy. In the first revolution, political authority was taken from the king (although the king was still to retain religious authority). The author discusses this revolution was it played out at Sparta, Athens, and Rome. At this time, the aristocracy governed the city. In the second revolution, various changes occurred in the constitution of the family and the right of primogeniture disappeared. It was at this point that the clients became free (the author mentions in particular the work of Solon). In the third revolution, the plebs entered the city. The author discusses this revolution as it played out at Athens and Rome. The author also discusses changes in the private law, the Code of the Twelve Tables, and the Code of Solon. In the fourth revolution, an aristocracy of wealth tried to establish itself and this lead to the establishment of democracy and popular suffrage. However, it is in the conflict between rich and poor that democracy failed and popular tyrants arose. The final section of this book is devoted to the disappearance of the municipal regime. Here, the author notes how new beliefs arose as the traditional religious structures were changed to become more universal. The author discusses the Roman conquest and the subsequent rise of Christianity. By calling to itself the whole human race, Christianity made the most radical change to the pagan religion.
This book provides an excellent account of the earliest ancient Greek and Roman pagan religion that revolved around the family and its subsequent demise with the rise of the Romans and the beginnings of Christianity. It is the universal message of Christianity that lives on from most ancient times. This book is a fascinating sociological account of the ancient city and its religion and customs, showing in detail the ancient pagan belief system. Fustel de Coulanges is very learned and argues extensively from many ancient sources, both Greek and Roman (but also mentioning ancient Indian and Hebrew sources as well).
Customer Rating: Summary: on history now of history Comment: Fustel de Coulanges describes a society that I found incredible. How could it be the case that a healthy society found itself founded solely under the patriarchal power of each family's pater? The pressure of such a state seems stifling. The father carried out the priest function for each family's hearth gods. A grander appreciation of the religion of the land led to city-making and laws. However, the father's grasp remained for a long time invincible, unquestionable.
After Fustel de Coulanges establishes the city, its laws, its religion and its constituent parts, the family, it undergoes a series of revolutions. These revolutions create a diminishing of the father's power and of the priest's singular authority, while simultaneously generating a partly enfranchised lower class and, to a certain extent, individual rights.
As the preface of Arnaldo Momigliano points out, there is no resolution to the paradox of the ancient city. Fustel de Coulanges seems to idealize the Arcadian piety of the earliest family groups and their persistent worship, while at the same time valorizing the rights of the individual and cessation of caste-like limitations rampant in the Mediterranean world.
This history magnificently documents change. Certain shifts will seem abrupt (from the Roman Empire to Christianity in four pages), certain absences notable (there is little discussion of Alexander in Greece's history, despite such early ecumenicalism), however the might and seductive nature of the narrative make thoughtfully provoking history.
Fustel de Coulanges has begun his history with terms such as sacred fire, ancestor worship, land, gods, family, city, law, and revolution to document changes that we can recognize. This book seems a little like a "Decline and Fall" of sacred institutions rather than political entities. I do not think that this work provides a mirror of the Greek and Roman city, but I think readers will leave it without disappointment and full of admiration from the creation wrought by the author's intuition and knowledge of ancient sources. The whole thing is spectacular.
